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EPA Recognizes Boeing for Leadership in Revitalization at CCI, Inc. Superfund Site, Olathe, Kan.

Release Date: 10/22/2012
Contact Information: Belinda Young, (913) 551-7463, [email protected]

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Lenexa, Kan., Oct. 22, 2012) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 will recognize Boeing for its leadership to help revitalize the Chemical Commodities, Inc. (CCI) Superfund Site. The award will be presented at a CCI Celebration Event, 320 S. Blake St. in Olathe, Kan. EPA will highlight Boeing’s efforts to work with the Olathe community to install a pollinator habitat and educational trail for monarch butterflies during their pollination season throughout the Midwest. The site is designed to educate the public about pollination.

Boeing will be presented with the Leading Environmentalism and Forwarding Sustainability Award (LEAFS), the first time this award has been presented in Region 7. Representatives from Haley and Aldrich, Monarch Watch, Pollinator Partnership, and the CCI Community Advisory Group also will be recognized.

Boeing’s support to redevelop this site extends beyond the EPA requirement to clean up hazardous waste in communities. The EPA Reuse Initiative has been successful in facilitating the redevelopment of Superfund sites across the nation. This award recognizes Boeing for working with the community to enhance the site and to bring change to the area by giving back to the community a productive and useful property.

EPA Region 7 established the LEAFS award to recognize those who have supported the Superfund Redevelopment Initiative through innovative thinking, sustainable practices and environmental stewardship. Region 7 is a rural region with green space, which makes prioritizing reuse of Superfund sites a challenge. Sites that are successfully reused can benefit developers, site owners, local governments and communities. Such sites can be redeveloped in a way that can enhance the remedial actions taken and/or minimize EPA’s investment for long-term care and maintenance of the remedy.

To help the community become involved in this long-term reuse project, an Adopt-A-Garden concept has been established to find community organizations such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, science classes from local schools, or other entities that have a community involvement requirement to donate their time in maintaining the pollinator beds. Organizations interested in the Adopt-A-Garden concept should contact, Jeff Field, EPA Region 7 project manager, at [email protected].

WHAT: CCI Celebration Event (EPA LEAFS Award for Excellence in Site Reuse)

WHEN: Tues., Oct. 23, 2012, 10:00 a.m.

WHERE: Chemical Commodities, Inc. Superfund Site, 320 S. Blake Street, Olathe, Kan.